The Week of Christmas

At the end of this last week we were all wondering why we felt so exhausted. When I started thinking about everything we did, then I realized why. This was our week:

Sunday, Dec 23 - baptism at church. After church we spent all afternoon cooking for our big Christmas meal which we ate a few days early. :)

Monday, Dec 24 - We had our regular Christmas morning routine: cinnamon rolls and coffee, opening gifts, and reading the story of Jesus' birth. In the afternoon Eli and I joined the other Christians in a parade around town, singing and drumming, to announce the celebration of Jesus' birth.

Tuesday, Dec 25 - spent all morning in church and then hosted Christmas visitors in our home for the rest of the afternoon. That is why I did so much Christmas baking (pictured above).

Wednesday, Dec 26 - as is the custom in South Sudan, we visited all our friends in town, basically going door to door, giving Christmas and New Year greetings.

Thursday, Dec 27 - we had a campus wide celebration eating the goat we gave as a Christmas gift.

The children ate off their own tray, the ladies in their corner, and the men in their corner.

On Thursday afternoon Isaac started a very high fever and we realized he had malaria. Today is day 5 and he's still hanging out on the couch but feeling much better.

Friday, Dec 28 - we spent most of the day keeping an eye on Isaac and hosting more Christmas visitors in our home.

On Saturday we celebrated a wedding on our compound: the daughter of one of our students. It was so interesting to learn more Dinka culture relating to weddings. We spent almost 7 hours drinking coffee and eating multiple times along with probably 200 other people squeezed on our compound! It was quite the day!

Sunday, Dec 30 - we decided we seriously needed a day of rest so we stayed home from church and went out on the boat for a riverside service instead. Isaac was feeling so much better and was feeling bored from being in bed for 3 days so we went out for a few hours. Dad shared an encouraging word from Exodus 33:12-23 and we sang a few songs and went for a swim. It was so refreshing. Once we sat down and talked about our week we understood why we all felt so tired. Hopefully this week won't be quite so packed.